The U.K team only have one film in the Cannes competition in Takashi's Miike's Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, but its the more than one item in Hanway Films upcoming slate that has me salivating. They've got Steve McQueen's Shame, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights and David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method all in the oven. If there is a break-in at the Hanway offices this week, I don't want anyone thinking it was me.
Already co-starring in the On the Road, Viggo Mortensen and Amy Adams are in early talks to share the screen again this time in The Big Shoe. No word on what roles are currently available and how accurate this info is, but Steven Shainberg will be directing the dramedy (which he co-wrote with Mickey Birnbaum) about a shoe designer with a foot fetish. Already cast to star is Joaquin Phoenix, who is pegged to play the designer and also attached we find Mia Wasikowska whose toes will most likely end up being the object of this kooky designers’ affection.
27 Dresses pairing of James Marsden and Malin Akerman have apparently signed onto star in Michael Engler's directing debut - the rom com A Little Something For Your Birthday. The former Overture and now Relativity project should begin lensing sometime this year with Steve Golin and Alix Madigan-Yorkin (whose had quite a year with Winter's Bone) producing.
At the beginning of every month, IONCINEMA.com's "Tracking Shot" features a handful of projects that are moments away from lensing and we feel are worth signaling out. This february we only have a fivesome of films worth mentioning that are definitely going to be major studio titles to watch out for in 2012ish.
We're huge fans of Arnold's Fish Tank and her short film work (especially Wasp), and we look forward in seeing how she can add the funk to a tiresome old classic. With her trusted right-hand man in cinematographer Robbie Ryan and a ballsy casting decision move of picking up a non-actor lead for the role of Heathcliff -- demonstrates she's still shooting from the hip. Add this to the Arnold aesthetic which is soaked in a realism, this might become a contempo classic and carry more weight now that this critic appreciates.